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CONTENTS

Excerpt from Preface

Two Forewords

EXCERPTS FROM Ch. 1: The Ten Facets of Sanatana Dharma 21 Ch. 2: The Vedas – Structure, Style and Content 33 Ch. 3: Sri Rudram 58 Ch. 4: Surya-Namaskara Prashna of Krishna Yajur Veda 109 Ch. 5: The Crest Jewel of the Vedas 124 Ch. 6: Ishavasyopanishat 138 Ch. 7: Great Conversations 160

Ch. 8: The Mahavakyas and Vedanta 168

Ch. 9: Aum and the Queen-Mother of Mantras 180 Ch. 10: The Light of All Lights 190 Ch. 11: Smriti 204 Ch. 12: Itihasa, Purana & Agama 212 Ch. 13: Three Sundarakandas – Valmiki, Kamban & Tulsi 219 Ch. 14: Aditya-Hridayam 242 Ch. 15: An Overnight Capsule of Dharma 259 Ch. 16: Litanies of One Thousand Names of God 284 Ch. 17: Puranas – How to Relate to Them 312 Ch. 18: Shuka-Stuti from the Bhagavatam 318 Ch. 19: The Story of Jadabharata 323 Ch. 20: The Cosmic Flow of Time as per Scriptures 335 Ch. 21: Four Character-Types: The Varna System 341 Ch. 22: A Key-Hole View of Yoga-Darshana 369 Ch. 23: From the Tamil Age of Devotion 381 Appendix 401 Index 405

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Excerpt from Preface

This book attempts, even for the novice reader, a possibly enjoyable glimpse of the four-fold wings of the age-old Hindu scriptures, viz.: Shruti, Smriti, ItihAsa and PurANas.

The first Chapter gives a capsule version of what Sanatana Dharma (popularly known as Hinduism) is, by focusing briefly on the ten major tenets of the religion and its essentials. The 22 Chapters that follow present samples (in some cases,

very tiny ones) of the above four categories of scriptures. This is expected to be a representative ‘trailer’ or ‘jhalak’ or let us say, ‘a bird’s eye-view’ of the scriptures. The objective is to clear the haze of a near-total ignorance of any of the massive scriptural content that prevents the majority of adherents of the religion from even trying to understand its message, much less imbibe it.

Once a reader goes through the seemingly fractal-like presentation of the scriptures in this book, one would probably realize what is before him or her is more than a glimpse. It actually has turned out to be almost a comprehensive sample, in the sense that it acquaints the reader, all at one place, with different types of samples of the scriptural ocean; along with the meanings of most of what it quotes and cross-quotes. The intent of this strategy of familiarizing oneself with the scriptures, is to evoke the interest of many and to inspire them to explore the originals for a meeting with them in their full majestic form..

V. Krishnamurthy

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Two Forewords

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SHRIMUKHAM FROM

H.H.Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetadhipathi

Jagadguru Sri Sankaracharya Swamigal

The ‘srimukham,’ benedictory note, in Sanskrit, blessed by the Acharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti PeeTham, says:

‘Sanskrit’ is the divine language, say the sages, based on the vedic passage ‘devIm vAcham ajanayanth devAH’ [Rg Veda 8.100.11] which means ‘this speech, divine, the gods created.’ This language is resplendent with finding expression

in the rich literature of the Veda, embellished with the corpus of the smriti-s, and further decorated by the ItihAsa and PurANas and the immense body of poetical

literature. There are no two opinions on the need for the study of this language by those who wish to acquire dharma, those who aspire for liberation and those

who want to enrich themselves with noble traits. Yet, in this age of Kali, when Sanskrit is sadly ignored, it is a matter of great pain that it is resorted to only by a few, just like a precious jewel is accessed only by a rare fortunate one. Even as

this is so, just as the sages have, in their compassion for the humanity, given out the message of the Veda and related literature, in the manner that the

ordinary man can imbibe, so too there are those who, like the autumnal season giving joy to one and all, cater to the need of those who cannot approach the original works in Sanskrit, by rendering those works in easily graspable language

of the masses.

We are extremely glad to know that Sri V.Krishnamurthy of Bengaluru has extracted the juice from a variety of flowers of the Sanskrit literary corpus and

adding the sugar of English to this potion is offering this rejuvenating drink to the common aspirants. We bless that this endeavour succeed due to the grace of the Lord . ChandramoulIshvara accompanied by Mother Maha Tripura

Sundari and also wish that the author bring more such works to the benefit of the society at large.

With Narayanasmriti,

Shrivilamba-dhanuH-shukla-ShaShhThI

Kanchipuram

12.01.2019

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Ch 2: The Vedas – Structure, Style and Content Excerpt From Page 34

……..It is one of the amazing miracles of world heritage that, while even the

written literature of great authors like Kalidasa and Shakespeare have today more than one reading or version at several points, the Vedas, which go back to (probably beyond) 3000 B.C. have, in spite of being handed down entirely

through oral transmission, come down to us in a single version with a scrupulous exactitude.

How can this be? How was it possible? In spite of their massive content, (Rig

veda and Yajur veda have 153,826 and 109,287 words respectively) they have been preserved from generation to generation though it was all done only orally. All this has been preserved (till today) for more than three millenia without ever

having been put into writing. This must be considered a great lingusitic achievement of which India should be legitimately proud. The accuracy of the transmitted text is preserved by resorting to an artifice of nine different

techniques or modes of recital.

The first technique is the pada pATha, which simply recites each word of the text separately; pada means word; pATha means a reading. The system of

euphonic changes that occur from the samhita pATha to the pada pATha is itself very technical (Sanskrit grammar would be crucial here) but makes sense. In

addition, there are eight other techniques of recitation, the sole purpose of each is to preserve the original samhita text without the loss or addition of a single

syllable or svara. The svaras are a significant part of the recital of the Vedas, whatever be the mode. In each mode the order of recital of the words is specified as a particular permutation of their original sequence. We give below a sentence

from the Yajurveda, obviously without the svaras, in its original samhita pATha form, also its pada text and then the order of the words in the ghana recital. A

pundit who has learnt the ghana recital of one complete veda (he takes thirteen years of whole time work to reach that stage) is called a Ghana-pAThi…….

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Ch 3: Sri Rudram Excerpt From Page 70

Namo bhavasya hetyai jagatAM pataye namaH

This is the third mantra in this anuvAka.Salutation to the one who is the weapon of destruction for the life of limitation (of creation) and who is the Lord of the universe. Bhavasya hetiH means the keen axe which destroys this samsAra.

This mantra is one of the most important mantras of Sri Rudram, because it has been declared to lead to mokshha by a ceaseless repetition of this

mantra. Note the distinction between pashUnAM pataye (2nd mantra) and jagatAM pataye (in this mantra). Both appear to mean the same thing, but the

former indicates bondage (samsAra) and the latter indicates Release (mokshha).

From page 95.

stuhi shrutaM gartasadaM yuvAnaM mRRigaM na bhImam-upahatnum-ugram/mRRiDA jaritre rudrastavAno anyante asman-navapantu senAH//

First line is a famous prayer. Second line appeals to Rudra to take pity on this frail body, make his armies avoid us but strike at our sins.

(O Speech or Indwelling Soul!) श्रतुं – Famous as ‘Parameswara’ (very reputed

in all Vedas and worlds), गततसदं – dwelling in our heart-cave, युवानं – always

youthful and handsome, उपहतनुं– destroyer of the wicked, मगृं न – like lion, भीमं –

terrible, उग्रं-fierce (unconquerable), स्तुहह praise स्तवानः – Praised (you), जरित्र – (to

us) being in destructible bodies, म ृड– give comfort. सेनाः – Your armies (which

spoil our comfort), अस्मत ् अन्यं– (other than us) our enemies or sins, ननवपन्तु–

let destroy.

This mantra is directed at the sense organ of speech or the indwelling soul.

Pleased with our prayer, please grant us healthy and strong bodies, though destructible and finally the bliss of Mokshha. Mind, praise the Lord who is revealed

in the scriptures, who abides in the hearts, who is ever young, who destroys the wrong doers, who is not conquerable like an Iron piece. May you, who are being

praised by us, make us happy! O Rudra, we are in this body subject to ageing. May your army destroy anyone else other than us. May your armies, opposed to our comforts, destroy the sins, (= enemies)…… ‘Mrigam na bhimam’ while

harming evil persons, he is very terrible like a lion breaking the head of an elephant. Here ‘na’ conveys the meaning of a simile like ‘iva,’ say all

commentators. But Adi Shankara in his commentary on the same passage says That na conveys the negation of ugraM and bhImaM. That is the great goodness and Grace of Lord Narasimha, says he.

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Ch.4. Surya-Namaskara prashna of Krishna Yajur Veda (Excerpt from p.117)

Then comes the passage narrating the claims of great sages about their experience of the seven Suns and the eighth Sun. Two sages by name panca-karNa, son of vatsa; and sapta-karna, son of plaksha, claim to have seen the

seven Suns; but, say the two, they have not been able to go to the mahaa-meru and see the eighth Sun. But everybody strongly recommends, says the text, that

man should strive to go to the mahaa-meru and see that One-ness of Divinity, called kaSyapa. It becomes clear that they are referring to the Supreme Reality

here which is the substratum of all the seven Suns. ‘tasya bhaasaa sarvam idam vibhati, say the scriptures in another place, referring thereby to the

Transcendental Absolute. So, these seven Suns themselves derive their strength and dalliance from the eighth Sun, namely kashyapa. The seven Suns originated

from kashyapa, says the text: kashyapaad-uditaas-sUryaah. The very name kashyapa is extolled and its meaning derived by going into its etymology.

kashyapah pashyako bhavati is a statement occurring in the eighth anuvAka. It means kashyapa is the One that Sees—meaning, He sees rightly. The next

sentence in the text explains this: yat sarvam pari-pashyati-iti saukshhmyaat meaning, ‘because it sees everything in all its subtlety.’ The root word for seeing is drish. When conjugated, this becomes pashyati. There is another esoteric

significance here. The word kashyapa has three syllables: ka, shya, and pa – in that order. Reverse the order of these three syllables. We get pa, shya, and ka. They make up, in that order, the word pashyaka – which means, One Who Sees. That is why, kashyapah pashyako bhavati! bhavati means ‘becomes.’ kashyapa happens to be pashyaka. The existence of this eighth Sun in the form of the Ultimate Supreme (Who sees, as things are to be seen) is given only in the

scriptures.

What is this eighth Sun? What is its implication to our sensory scientific

knowledge? Who will do research on this? Who can? Should India wait until

some foreign Professor from reputed Universities puts his or her mind to it and

writes a monograph? Are not Indian scholars the best persons to study them?

Such a study cannot be done by a person who cares only for occidental Science

or by a person who is ignorant of occidental Science. The Saraswati of the East,

which represents Pure Science, and Lakshmi of the West which revels in Applied

Science should have to come together!

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Ch.5: The Crest-Jewel of the Vedas (Excerpt From p.125)

Ordinary people think religious life means an almost impossible ascent towards a perfect God by an imperfect soul. They think that God is really unknowable because none of our senses seem to sense Him. But the beauty

of the Upanishads and therefore of Hinduism is that it teaches us that while God is infinitely higher than ourselves, He is nearer to us than our hands and feet. He is the Soul of our Souls. He is the One that survives in

us from childhood to adulthood through old age from birth, as the I that we talk of when we refer to ourselves. He is neither the body nor the

senses, nor the mind nor the ego, nor the intellect. He is the I that is none of these, but is far distant from anything that we can call ours in a relational manner like spouse, issue, wealth, or opinion, or possession. He

is the ever-present witness to all our thoughts, actions and experiences. He is the Self, our Atman. It is the highest Reality in ourselves. This fact of the Atman being our utmost Reality in each one of us is technically

called the IMMANENT PRESENCE of God in us. This fact constitutes the major difference of Hinduism from the religions of the West. God is said

to have ‘entered’ in us. Entry is not physical entry but in the sense of immanence. The Sanskrit word is ‘anupraveshaM.’ Several Upanishads talk about this with great emphasis and commentators spend a lot of time

elucidating this concept.

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Ch.7: Great Conversations (Excerpt From p.163)

The third Chapter of Brihadranyakopanishad describes a seminar-like

discussion in the assembly of great Janaka, where Yajnavalkya comes out the victor. Arrayed against him are stalwarts like Uddalaka, Aswala, Arthabaga, Ushastha and many more. The occasion itself constitutes an interesting

anecdote. King Janaka had invited all these brahma-vAdins (experts in the subject of Brahman) for a yajna, provokes them into a discussion by announcing

that he has earmarked one thousand cows, each with a bag of ten gold coins and all these constitute the prize for the one among them who is ‘anUcAnatamaH’

(most erudite in Vedas). The entire assembly is stunned at this announcement, stupefied by the challenge of the occasion and the seriousness it demanded and kept silent. But after a little period of silence, Yajnavalkya rises up and with his

assistant makes preparations to take possession of the cows. Then it is that the assembled scholars begin to challenge him one by one. Each one asks a few

subtle questions about Knowledge of the Absolute. Yajnavalkya shoots forth his answers without any hesitation or confusion and with such clarity that they withdraw their challenge and sit down.

Finally, one lady, Vacaknavi Gargi, announces that she is going to ask just two questions of Yajnavalkya; if he answers them well, there should be no more doubt. ‘That of which they say it is above the heaven and below the earth, which

is between heaven and earth as well, and which was, is and shall be – tell me, Yajnavalkya, in what it is woven, warp and woof?’ ‘In space (= AkAsha),’ replies

Yajnavalkya ‘And in what, is this Akasha woven, warp and woof?’ shoots back Gargi. The answer (Br.U. 3.8.8) of Yajnavalkya to this truth-seeking deep

question gives the fundamental truth of Vedanta and is one of the most famous passages in all of Upanishadic literature; it should be engraved in letters of gold at all spiritual centres of the world. It runs thus:

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Ch.8: Mahavakyas and Vedanta (Excerpt From page 171 )

Our Self, the Atman, seems to have an individuality of its own. The mahAvAkya says it is the same as the unqualified Brahman in the Infinite

Cosmos. It appears we are trying to identify two things, one that is unlimited and unconditioned and one that is limited and conditioned. Suppose one says: “This

well-dressed gentleman Mr. Sanjay is the same person whom we saw as the ill-kempt patient No.13 in the mental hospital a few years ago.” The sameness here is not between the dressed-up Sanjay and the uncouth patient No.13. The

sameness is between the patient minus all that made him look a patient and Sanjay minus all his present appearance, including his name. It is the essential

person behind the name and behind the dress. Whenever such an identity is talked about we have to throw away all those aspects which are clearly distinctive (and exclusive) in both and cling on only to those essentials without which they

are not what they are. So when Brahman and Atman are being identified, we have to see what commonality or essentialness there is in them that is being identified.

Brahman is the cause of this Universe; But that is a predication of Brahman,

extraneous to the identity we are talking about The Self or Atman appears to be limited because of an apparent individuality which keeps it under the spell of

ignorance. This is extraneous to the essentiality of the Atman. So, what we are identifying is Brahman, minus its feature of being the cause of the Universe and

Atman minus its limitations of ignorance-cum-delusion. The Cosmic Maya is what makes Brahman be the cause of this universe. The individual Avidya (=

Ignorance) is what makes the Atman circumscribed and delimited. MahAvAkya says Brahman minus its mAyA and Atman minus its avidya are identical.

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Ch. 9: Aum and the Queen-Mother of Mantras Excerpt from p.184

The three-fold presentation of Reality, as sat, cit and Ananda is also reflected

in the GAyatrI. First let us see the invocation M.N.U. AnuvAka 34) for the Gayatri Mantra, expected to be done by every seeker of Brahman three times a day:

AyAatu varadaa devI akshharaM brahmasaMmitam.

gAyatrIM chhandasAM mAtA idaM brahma jushhasva me…

May the boon-conferring divine GAyatrI come to us (in order to instruct us about) the imperishable Brahman who is determined by Vedanta. May GAyatrI, the

mother of all meters & mantras, favour us with the intuition of the Supreme.

The word savituH in the first line, which indicates ‘Origin’ or ‘Birth,’ suggests Creation and makes it characteristic of the ‘sat’ or the ‘satya’ facet. This line is

a glorification of the Absolute. A glorification of a deity simply praises the Lord as Lord, does not ask for anything and does not do anything in the wake of that praise. The first line of the GAyatrI does simply this.

The second line asks us to meditate as if it is the be-all and end-all of life. Yes, because the meditation itself gives the bliss, immanent in the Absolute Reality. Meditation on the Absolute is communion with or worship of, the

Divine. It is therefore the worship aspect of the mantra. It corresponds to the Ananda (or the ananta, infinite) aspect of the Absolute; because the very

meditation of the Absolute is Bliss. Bliss is not something that you attain after you have achieved something as a reward from the Lord. To think of Him is Bliss!The use of the words dhiyah and pracodayAt in the third line show that

this line is indicative of the cit facet of Reality and is also the Prayer aspect of the mantra imbedded in the GAyatrI. It is the cit (Knowledge, JnAnaM) facet of

the sat-cid-Ananda form or the satyam-JnAnaM-anantam definition of Brahman. It is significant that in this line it is the intellect that asks for the prompting of

the Absolute and that is why this line is the cit facet.

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Ch. 10: The Light of All Lights Excerpt from (P.193-194)

First note that it is wrong to say ‘Light illumines itself.’ For this implies that Light as illuminator is the Subject and Light as the illumined is the object. One

and the same entity cannot be both subject and object. The eyes can see everything but themselves. That is why the statement of light illuminating itself is wrong. What does ‘Illumination ’ mean? Illumination means uncovering

(anAvRRita) of what is covered (AvRRita) and not manifest. In other words, Light illumines itself is equivalent to saying, the AvRRita light becomes anAvRRita light! ‘Illumining’ is an action at a point of time. So before that action took place ‘light’ must have been AvRta and after that action ‘Light’ must be ‘anAvRRita.’

But such a thing is absurd; there are no two avasthAs (states) for Light. Therefore it is not an object of illumination! In advaita language and parlance, ‘Atman knows itself ’ is thus a wrong statement. (Incidentally this is an error that

invariably occurs when people claim the Atman to be recognisable as a jyoti in nirvikalpa-samAdhi).

Light in Vedanta is that, in the presence of which things are known

and in the absence of which things are not known. Light is the illuminator of any object. Each of the external lights described earlier, like the Sun, The

Moon, the Fire, and the Sound is only a relative or empirical light. Even sense organs and Mind are Lights. But none of these is the Ultimate Light. Because all these lights do the function of being a light only when Consciousness is there.

Each Light itself is an object for Consciousness. Light itself is known only by the ultimate Light of Consciousness.

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Ch. 11: Smriti Excerpt from (P.211)

Those Hindus who have gone to Gaya (in Bihar) on pilgrimage to perform the rites due to their deceased ancestors would recall how much of an importance is

given to the concept ‘Mother’ during the ceremonies there. At the end of all the rites, there is the rite of offering piNDas (balls of cooked rice ritually offered to such ancestors) at the foot of the ageless banyan tree there, called akshaya-vaTa. All the ancestors, other relatives, elders, other kith and kin and well-wishers who are not alive, are each offered just one piNDa. But the (deceased)

mother, mother alone, is offered 16 piNDas. For each of these sixteen, a statement in the form of a Shloka is recited, paying gratitude to the mother for

all that she did. For instance, the Shlokas go somewhat like this:

You bore me with great pain for ten months; this piNDa is in gratitude for that. You suffered kicks by me in your womb; this piNDa is in gratitude for that.

You controlled your appetite for spicy and difficult-to-digest stuff because you did not want me in your womb to be hurt; this piNDa is for that. You suffered

untold pangs of labour pain when I was born; this is the piNDa for that. After I was born you breast-fed me at the proper times, amidst all your busy schedule.

This piNDa is for that. You suffered the pain of my biting into you, when my teeth began to grow; this piNDa is for that. You were on all sorts of restricted diet in

order to save me from illness; this one is for that. You woke up at all odd times of nights to feed me; this one is for that.

It goes on like this sixteen times, mentioning everything that the mother must have done, and offering a piNDa in gratitude. You think of anything that you do

to your children as a mother; it is listed there. When one hears these sixteen statements and the offering of the piNDas at the akshaya-vaTa, one will almost

go into tears.

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Ch.12. Itihasa, Purana & Agama Excerpt from (p.215)

ROLES OF MIND, WILL AND FATE

Mind is not something that you or the doctor can get hold of; it is subtle matter so subtle that it is nothing but a flow of thoughts – which is perpetually unstable, transient and volatile. It just receives all the cognitions that the senses

send to it. It receives and stores. Nothing more. What acts is the will or will-power of the mind. What analyses the cognitions is the intellect within the mind. Will-power (dhRRti or IcchhA shakti in Sanskrit) and Intellect (buddhi) are the

two facets of the mind, which do these, of course, under the promptings of the mind. When ShAstras teach you to ‘speak the truth,’ they are telling your will-

power to act in that direction of truth. If it decides to do so, it will tell the senses to follow that. Now what does Fate do? FATE is only the result or fructification

of what all you have thought and done in your past lives.. It creates certain tendencies, which are the 13 channels of the mind through which all thoughts flow. This makes the mind for ever a prisoner of memories, wants and emotions

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Ch. 13: Three Sundarakandas – Valmiki, Kamban & Tulsi Excerpt from (P.228-229)

Again Kamban really shines most in this part of the narration in his 18 exquisite verses (340 to 357 of Kamba Ramayanam Sundara Kanda)) under the

heading ‘kollum ninaivugaL’ (Killing Memories) and (Recollections of the Past). While sitting and brooding over her thoughts about Rama, Sita recalls several striking anecdotes of the past. Here is a famous one about Rama’s reaction (in

truth, the absence of reaction!) to the sudden change in his fortunes by the announcement from within Kaikeyi’s inner apartments made on behalf of his

own father – the father, who, just the previous day, made the public announcement of his coronation and scheduled it for the next morning.

Meyt-tiruppadam mEvu enRa pOdilum ittiruttuRandu Egu enRa pOdilum cittirattin alarnda sentAmarai ottirukkum mugattinai unnuvAL.

Both when the King proclaimed his ascension to the much coveted Royal throne

and when the Queen ordered him to renounce kingship and go to the forest, Rama’s face showed no change and shone like the fully bloomed lotus in a

picture. The significance here is not just in the poet’s imagination of the lotus analogy to Rama’s face – which is common in Indian literature – but in the poet’s further imagination of the lotus as a fully blossomed one in a picture. A real lotus

fully bloomed will not remain in that bloom for long. On the other hand the lotus in a picture will remain in the bloomed state for ever! See Valmiki’s rendering of

this trait in Rama in 2.19.33:

na vanaM gantukAmasya tyajatashca vasundharAM. sarvalokAtigasyeva lakshhyate cittavikriyA…

meaning, In that Rama, who was leaving the kingdom after having decided to go to the forest, not a little perturbation of mind was visible, as though he were an

ascetic who has transcended everything of the world.

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Ch.14: Aditya-hridayam Excerpt from p.249

sa ya eshhontarhRRidaya AkAshaH. tasminnayaM purushho

manomayaH. amRRito hiraNmayaH. antareNa tAluke. Ya eshha stana ivAvalambate. sendrayoniH. yatraasaukeshAnto vivartate. vyapohya

sIrshhakapaale.

Here, in this bright space within the heart, is He, that Soul who is of thought-

form, undying, full of light. In between the throat’s two pillars, that which hangs down like a nipple, that is the gateway to the Supreme Lord; it passes out at the crown where the root of the hair is made to part, opening the skull in the centre.

The AdityahRRidayastotra propitiates this Aditya. What we are worshipping is not the physical Sun that is visible. He resides in our hRRidayAkasha and hence the name of this stotra. To nullify the powers that Creator Brahma Himself

granted Ravana, our ahamkAra, we need to (and Rama was advised to do the same) propitiate this Aditya residing in our hRRidayAkasha. This propitiation is what is done from shloka 7 to shloka 24 (eighteen shlokas: eighteen, by the way, is a spiritually significant number!). In contrast to Sri Rudram (Ch.3), where we

said, Svaras (Intonations) are important and so Rudram has to be learnt from a Pandit, since AdityahRRidayam belongs to Ramayana and hence to the ItihAsa category, it is available to any one who can read Sanskrit! There is no question of Svara-requirements.

When getting the meaning of the words note that many of them fit both the

Absolute and the Sun-God. We follow the vyAkhyAna of Sri Govindaraja on

V.R.

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Ch.15: An Overnight Capsule of Dharma Excerpt from P.269

Does dharma compensate for adharma? is another question of

Dhritarashtra. Do dharma and adharma cancel each other? Does one destroy the other in the life of an individual? The answer is important for the understanding of Hinduism. No, dharma and adharma do not cancel each other

in the case of an individual who performs actions without detachment. Whatever puNya-karma one does, one reaps the fruits of that puNya and whatever pApa-karma that one does one reaps the consequences of them also. The two coexist. [Note: In the context of modern practice, it is significant to note that when ill-

gotten riches find their way to the hundi of the Lord of Tirupati, probably in the expectation that the ills of the sources of the riches will be washed off, Sanatsujata tells us that you may get puNya for your donation to Tirupati

but your sins (if any) in acquiring those riches would still have to be accounted for in toto!] It is not as if you compensate for your sins by doing

good. The compensation is only in terms of vasana and not in terms of the fruits of your actions. ……….

(From p.276) : The next virtue, namely, hrIH—a weak translation of which is

‘humility’ – is actually ‘the sense of shame when doing adharma’ (= akArya-karaNe lajjA, says Shankara). To put it more bluntly, it is a Sense of Recoil from adharma. The central problem in the morals of modern times is the absence of any sense of shame while going against the accepted norms of morality. The

ancient Tamil work ‘Tiruk-kuRaL’ puts this in a succinct way: (Kural #1012):

ஊணுடைஎச்சம் உயிர்க்கெல்லாம் வேறல்ல

நாணுடைடைைாந்தர் சிறப்பு UNuDai echhaM uyirkkellAM vERalla nANuDaimai mAnthar ciRappu.

Meaning, Food, clothing and the rest are invariably common for all mankind;

Sensitiveness to shame alone marks men of distinction. It is alright in this new millenium to question the norms of a society that

shaped itself by the values of the earlier millenium, but in all practice the sense of shame in doing wrong was the one sure insulation the previous generations had against a degeneration of morality. Without this virtue one goes down, by

succumbing to temptations to do wrong. In fact in the modern days of fear of teenagers getting addicted to drugs, the one virtue that should be inculcated in them even as children is *hrIH*. Even if this means swinging the pendulum back

towards a conformist approach our civilisation ought probably to prefer having

this swing.

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Ch. 16: Litanies of One Thousand Names of God Excerpt from p.286

An interesting observation on this aspect of Bhishma being quoted as one of the

authorities on Dharma: In the Mahabharata, being dragged into the assembly

where the dice match has been lost by Yudhishtira, Draupadi asks of everybody

the most tricky question to Yudhishtira. kiM nu pUrvaM parAjaisIH AtmAnaM

mAM nu bhArata (II – 60 – 7): “Whom did you lose first, yourself or me?” Bhishma

looks upon Draupadi’s question as a legal challenge but wriggles out rather

uncomfortably. He concludes in great distress that the matter is complex and he

cannot resolve Draupadi’s dilemma. न धर् मसौक्ष्म्यात ् सभुग ेवििकु्तर् ् शक्नोवर् त ेप्रश्नर्-्इर्र् ् यथाित ् ‘na dharmasaukshhmyAt subhage vivaktum; shaknomi te prashnam-

imam yathAvat’ (first half of II-60–40 in M.B.). In fact this was Bhishma’s greatest

confrontation with Dharma. Well, even Homer nods!

Excerpt from p.302

padmanAbhaH appears three times in V.S. padma means lotus and nAbhi means the navel. The three meanings of padmanAbha are: He in whose navel

stands the lotus from which the creator brahmA, the source of the universe, originated; He whose navel is beautifully shaped like a lotus; He who resides in

the central part of the heart lotus – the reference here being to the vedic passage which says: It (The Supreme) lies below the heart as an inverted lotus, the stalk

of the lotus reaching just above the navel: (M.N.U.)

padmakoshapratIkAshagum hRRidayam cApyadhomukham. adho nishhTyA vitastyAnte nAbhyAmupari tishhThati…

In addition to these three meanings padmanAbha has an esoteric meaning

derived from the fact that the word mahA-padma stands for the number million-

million, namely, 1012. The name symbolically states that the Transcendental

Supreme is the Ultimate source of Time.

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Ch. 19: The Story of Jadabharata Excerpt from page 326

Bharata saw all this and was overpowered with compassion at the poor little deer

that had now lost its mother and was about to be itself lost in the current of the river. Instinctively he caught hold of the little one, brought it to his own ashram and started taking care of it. From that day onwards he started feeding it,

searched for the proper grass for its food, protected it from wild animals and was doing everything for its care, nourishment and growth. Gradually Bharata’s time

was more and more occupied with caring and tending to the needs of the infant deer. The time that he usually allotted for his spiritual disciplines got reduced steadily to almost nothing.

Compassion and affection are not wrong;

in fact they are very noble qualities. But when they become an attachment, the spiritual fall is imminent.

Affection ennobles, but attachment enslaves.

Love elevates, but desire entraps. This is what happened in the case of this great King Bharata.

Excerpt from p.328-329

The nine brothers of JaDabharata who were knowledgeable only about the karma-KANDa of the Vedas and had no idea of the brahmavit (= knower of

Brahman) among them treated him as a good-for-nothing fool. Consequently they simply extracted work from him and fed him only some rotten food, that

only deserved to be thrown in the garbage. JaDabharata came to be known in the entire neighborhood as a robust young man but a confirmed idiot. Whatever menial work anybody gave him he did it, but not intelligently. They put him as a

sentry in the fields to ward off birds and he sat there unendingly. Some one gives him instructions to dig and he digs; someone else comes along and asks him to stop and he stops. Some one gives him a beating for not doing his work properly

and he receives it without murmur or protest.

YadA tu parata AhAraM karma-vetana IhamAnaH sva-bhrAtRRibhirapi kedAra-karmaNi nirUpitaH tadapi karoti kintu na samaM vishhamaM

nyUnaM adhikaM iti veda kaNa-piNyAka-palI-karaNa-kulmAsha-sthAlIpurIshhAdIny-api amRRitavad-abhyavaharati//* V – 9 – 11.

Whatever he gets he accepted it, without ever caring whether it is more or less,

good or bad. Whatever they gave him, be it rice flour, oil-cake, chaff, spoilt

pulses, or charred food – he ate up everything as if it were nectar. It went on like

this day by day, year by year. He had decided not to care for this body and so

his body was usually filthy, his dhoti dirty, and his face, with a long beard, looked

like that of a caveman. He was living as a brahmavit totally aloof from his body.

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Ch.20: The Cosmic Flow of Time as per Scriptures Excerpt from p.337

The kali-yuga that we are in now will be followed by the satya-yuga of the next mahA-yuga, namely the 29th mahA-yuga, and so on cyclically. When 71 mahA-yugas of this manvantara are over, there will be a twilight period as stated above

and then the next (8th) manvantara goes on and then the 9th manvantara, and so on. When the 14 manvantaras are over, BrahmA’s day is over and BrahmA’s night begins. At that time the created universe (including the Sun, the stars and everything that was created at the beginning of the kalpa) will merge into the

Absolute and Brahma Himself ‘sleeps’ as it were. When Brahma’s night (of the same duration as His day) is over, the next kalpa begins and Brahma begins His

work of creation again, deriving the strength and power from the Absolute once again as He did in the previous kalpas. This way Brahma’s days and nights are

counted 360 times to make one year of Brahma’s life. According to the traditional time-keeping it is currently the first day in the the 51st year of Brahma now of which again five and a half ‘hours’ out of ‘twelve’ hours have elapsed of His time.

Thus in Brahma’s calendar the present time may be coded as his 51st year – first month – first day – 7th manvantara – 28th mahA-yuga – 4th yuga or

kaliyuga. The period of kali-yuga is just 4.32 ‘seconds’ of Brahma’s time!

Excerpt from p.339

Portion of brahma’s day elapsed up to the present time (2018 AD, say)

consists of

6 manvantara-twilights (one preceding each manvantara): 6 × 4κ;

6 manvantaras completed: 6 × 71 × 10κ; 1 manvantara-twilight preceding the 7th manvantara: 4 κ;

27 mahA-yugas elapsed in this manvantara: 27 × 10κ; Three yugas elapsed (namely satya, tretA and dvApara) in this 28th mahA-yuga: (4 + 3 + 2) κ; and, years elapsed in present kaliyuga 5120

All this adds up to 4567 κ + 5120 = 1,972,949,120 human years.

This is the age of the universe in this day of BrahmA as of 2018 AD.

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Ch.21: Four character-types: the Varna System Excerpt from Ch.21 (p.341)

The character-type of a person depends upon the quality which dominates the

person’s essential inner nature (svabhAva). There are three major qualities

discussed in all Hindu scriptures including the Gita. In Sanskrit they are known

as Sattva, Rajas and tamas. Roughly they correspond to three d’s, namely,

divine, dynamic and dull, respectively. These are the tendencies or modes that

govern our nature and are collectively called GuNas. Six entitites are chosen by

Krishna for discussion in the 18th Ch of the Gita: Knowledge (JnAnam); Action

(karma); Doer (kartA); Intellect (buddhi); Will (dhRti); Happiness (sukham).

Each of these six is dissected by Him into what shades of behavioral response

belong to which of the three modes. Thus, He delineates 18 different response-

modes, devoting one verse to each.

Though no person can be counted as having any one of these tendencies in an exclusive manner, the three guNas constitute broad categories in which man’s nature can be divided in general. The scriptures (including the Gita) specify four

such broad categories for all humans. In his commentary on shloka 41 of the eighteenth Ch of the Gita, Shankara lists these four character-types of the

human population as follows: The Gita names these types as BrAhmaNa, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. We shall name them, for the purpose of this article, as B-type, K-type (Chart shown on the next page) V-type and S-type,

respectively.

1.Those in whom sattva is the dominating quality

2. Those in whom rajas dominates with sattva as the next dominating influence

3. Those in whom rajas dominates with tamas as the next dominating influence

4.Those in whom tamas is the dominating quality.

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Excerpt from p.359

CHARACTER-TYPE K (comprising of six types of triads)

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Ch. 23: From the Tamil Age of Devotion Excerpt From p.389

Pachai mA malai pOl mEni pavaLavAy kamalac ceNkaN

achuthA amarar ERE Ayar tham kozhundhe enum

iccuvai thavira yAn pOy indhiralokam ALum accuvai perinum vENDen arangam mA nagaruLLAne

Meaning: Oh Lord of the great city of Srirangam! You have the physical body that

looks like an Emerald mountain! Your mouth is like a Pearl! And your eyes match the red lotus. You are known not to let down those who surrender to you! You are the Lord of all the divines! You are the most pleasant one for the Gopas and

Gopis of Brindavan! I would not prefer even the glory of ruling the world of the divines from heaven to this heavenly joy of chanting here itself these glories and names of Yours.

Note on TondaraDippoDi Alwar: Born as ViprANarayana, he was, as per Hindu legends, infatuated with a danceuse, whose mother stole all his money. When he was in need of money, the Lord came to his rescue and showered gold on him.

He became a staunch devotee of Ranganatha of Srirangam temple and was redeemed to a spiritual life. He constructed a big Nandhavanam (flower park)

where various beautiful and fragrant flower plants are grown. He worshipped all the devotees of Lord Vishnu and put the dust under their feet on his head and sang songs in praise of Sri Ranganathar. From then on, he was called as

“ThondaraDippoDi Alwar,” meaning the Azhvar who bore the ‘poDi’ (= dust)

under the ‘aDi’ (= feet) of the thoNDars (= devotees).

RESPONSE TO ANY QUESTION THAT MAY ARISE OUT OF THE CONTENTS OF

THIS BROCHURE MAY MOST PROBABLY BE FOUND IN THE BOOK ITSELF.

Aum ShAntiH ShAntiH ShAntiH.